Inheritance of Fire
by OldManMalaz
Summary: Just when you think you've been given the perfect second chance, you realize that God really does have a sense of humor. SI/OC story
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto-verse. Not the characters, nor the world, nor the concepts present within it. Shonen Jump and the Naruto-verse's creator, Masashi Kishimoto, own all rights to Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. I am making no profit off of this story, I simply wish to immerse myself and everyone reading within the amazing universe that Kishimoto has created.

A/N: I just want to apologize once again to anyone who was irritated by my decision to restart Inheritance, and answer that irritation in a way that I think most suitable. Several years ago, I was pretty damn peeved when Da-Awesom-One decided to almost entirely rewrite his story Devil Fantasy XIII: Wishes Are Eternal, only where I am restarting from chapter 3, he restarted from chapter 33. Quite possibly chapter 34. And now, with seven chapters up, one only mildly revised and six entirely rewritten from scratch, I can grudgingly admit to myself that he made the correct decision. This new incarnation of Devil Fantasy XIII is even more well-written than it already was, it's much better paced, and the suspense of knowing that the thirteenth day is coming is being built up agonizingly slowly. Which is perfect. Suffice to say, I hope to accomplish the same with Inheritance. More-well-written (and I'm not talking about grammar, because I'm something of a grammar nazi already), better pacing, and a better immersion into the Naruto-verse and into the conflicting thoughts and emotions of Asahi Shimura. Again, I apologize for the long wait, a problem which I intend to fix permanently soon, and I hope I can prove to you all that the decision to rewrite this story was a good one. And as always, constructive criticism meant to help improve in areas that I am lacking, and thus increase your enjoyment of my work, is welcome. Hating for the sake of being an asshole is not welcome.

Thanks to 7019289, Ainilly, Arch Fear, Ayganym, BioPizza98, Blades of Fury, BloodyLoved, BrotherCaptainSheperd, Chaos- The Omnipotent God, Completely Confunded, Cyanococcus, DKMaria, Darkjaden, Dkthespaniard, Ebony sword, Elder Dragon 93, Eyode, Finding Glory Under Shadows, Flaming Kiwi, Forever Love The Dark, HeartlessNobody13, Ivise, Kat10305, Kataaowo, KayEmWhy, Kejmur, Knaruto, Kygomars567, Lady Slytherin-Nia, Llyrica, LockHerDoor, LoveroftheKiller, Lucie4512, Madam3Mayh3m, MadameGuillotineTheSeraph, Mango eater 24, Maria B Estrada670, MawVax, Mercimek, Mirthful-Malady, MorteSangriz, My FPS Aim Sucks (don't worry, so does mine), Mytheos, N8iV, NaughtyLoki, PEINUZUMAKI312, PerceptionOftheUnique, QdoSMP, Reina Cleroux, Sazaleli, SpiedCookie126, Sue01, Thatpotatoguywhohas9000lives, TheAmazingCoffeeCat, TheForgottenMyth, TiffBaby101, Trougue, Warlord of Chaos, Willowtuft, Yatocat19, alyzzaalindogan, chippermovie, cv snowblind, darkoutlaw9, fanfiction2010, fireman12468, kitcat93, kittywheaty, lostfeather1, menalith, mishuu, moonligh, rachnis, randomy, rstbm, serentiy000, setsunaxx, slasher3321, spagtag, the allreader, waterfall66631, zdono, and john-tilman for following Inheritance of Fire.

Thanks to 7019289, Ainilly, Arch Fear, BioPizza98, BrotherCaptainSheperd, Cyanococcus, DarkDust27, Darkjaden, DiCuoreAllison, Dkthespaniard, Eyode, GeminiZwei, Kataaowo, Kejmur, Kygomars567, Lucie4512, Mango eater 24, MawVax, Mercimek, Mirthful-Malady, MythicShadows, NatNicole, NaughtyLoki, Shashabux, Silmr3, SpiedCookie126, Thatpotatoguywhohas9000lives, Tick Tock Follow the Clock, Warlord of Chaos, aback, alyzzaalindogan, creven16, cv snowblind, darkoutlaw9, doggy bye, fireman12468, kittywheaty, lostfeather1, natanije, oLR, rachnis, silly60, sketchtheunicorn, slasher3321, sun131, and waterfall66631 for favoriting Inheritance of Fire.

MadameGuillotineTheSeraph: Thanks again for answering the questions from the Intro.

shaz, silkenedscarlet, and IS BITCH BACK: Still not and never will be ferradin. For which I'm glad, if some of the thing's I've heard about him are correct.

MadameGuillotineTheSeraph: You're welcome again for including the Rinha and Chinoike Clans, and don't worry. Harigae and Itsuki are definitely still going to be a huge part of the story, but in a different way, not to mention a little bit different themselves. Also, I'm still glad I'm not the only one that stalks the wiki.

rachnis and shaz: Thanks a ton for the compliments, and I hope to ensure that neither the plot nor the character development, either mentally or in terms of ability, disappoints you.

Cinder Hahn: Thanks, I hope you find the revised edition just as interesting as the original, and I apologize for not replying to your review the first time around. I was using my email to keep track of reviews, only I never got an email about yours.

Warlord of Chaos: Thanks for answering the questions from the Intro. That makes two people to have done so thus far.

Willowtuft: Thank you for the compliment, and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for the next chapter so long.

sketchtheunicorn: Good guess, but it may be something just a wee bit different than what I think you have in mind.

Mari (Smosh fan?/sorry if that offends): Thanks. I hope to make it even more excellent.

Guest: I sincerely apologize for keeping you and everyone else waiting for so long.

And to anyone that would prefer a PM as opposed to a direct call out in response to following, favoriting, or reviewing, feel free to PM me and let me know.

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 _"I'd love to tell you I had some deep revelation on my way down, that I came to terms with my own mortality, laughed in the face of death, et cetera._

 _The truth? My only thought was: Aaaaggghhhhh!" - Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief_

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First Steps Arc: Chapter 1

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* * *

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Well hey there you guys. Everybody alright? Comfy? Full stomach? Empty bladder?

What's that?

...

I'm not late. You're late. Yes huh! I've been looking everywhere for you guys.

I was supposed to meet you here? Who in Kami's name told you that nonsense?

Really now. Well, why would you listen to him?

So, who cares?

You care? What for? It's not like you're the ones who have spent the last three hours waiting around for someone to show up. I'm the one whose been waiting on all of you.

Well, if you're really not going to let this silly little notion that I'm the one whose late go, then I suppose there isn't much I can do to dissuade you.

But if you must blame someone for my punctuality-

Fine. Your lack of punctuality, then you should really be blaming the Sixth.

...

I'm sorry, but did you really just ask me 'The sixth what?'

You guys really don't make a good first impression, you know that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's get to it.

...

Oh, by Kami, you guys are already turning out to be hopeless. Introduce yourselves. That's what people meeting new people generally do in polite society, so hop to it.

An example?

 _Oh sweet Kami, take me now._

Fine. I guess I'll start us off. But you should all know something in advance.

You're going to regret letting me go first. Or at all, come to think of it.

So let's see. Where shall I begin...?

*snap*

Ah, that's a magnificent idea. I'll start from the beginning. When I died.

* * *

Gut-wrenching terror! Horrible pain! Metal crumpling, limbs twisting, bones breaking, blood leaking! Deafened by sound, deafened by something! No more pain.

Blinded by light then blinded by darkness. Can't smell, can't taste, can't move, can't feel. Can't hear-

No, can hear something. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub. Rhythmic. Sometimes slower, sometimes faster, usually normal. Constant. And always rhythmic.

 _Where am I? What's going on?_

Can think it but can't say it.

Can't move my mouth. No sound comes out either way.

Everything's dark, dark, dark. No sight, nothing to see, can't see even if there was.

Don't feel anything. Except...

 _Floating. I'm floating. People can't float. Not unless they're in water. But it doesn't feel like I am. Unless I'm completely submerged?_

 _Where the HELL am I?!_

Fear-

No, terror. Panic. That's it. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic.

Two questions. Repeated again and again and again and again.

 _WHERE THE HELL AM I?! WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON?!_

No answers. Don't know, can't know, won't know. Not until someone answers will I know the answers.

No one else _to_ answer.

Alone. Alone in the dark. Alone in the silence.

AlonealonealoneAloneAloneALoneALoneALOneALOneALONeALONeALONEALONE-

No. Darkness yes. Silence? No. Not silence. Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

Panic receding. The rhythm's calming. The beat, beat, beat.

 _Wait. Beat? Rhythmic beat. Too perfect to be manmade. Too in sync. The rhythm is always there, no matter the tempo. A natural beat. Natural beat?_

 _Natural beats don't exist. None with perfect rhythm anyway. Wait._

 _No, that's wrong. There's one. Heartbeat._

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

 _That's what it is. A heartbeat. But all around me? Can't be mine. Mine doesn't cause vibrations._

Yes, can feel something. Vibrations. Same rhythm as the beat. Timing, just a little off. Little behind.

 _Wait, vibrations? Vibrations travel through water, visibly, sometimes you can feel them if they're strong enough. And I am floating._

 _But it doesn't feel like I'm floating in water. Air?_

 _No, air doesn't vibrate. At least not that we can feel. Right? And besides. People don't float in air. Unless they're falling._

 _FALLING?!_

Panic again. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic.

 _No, no, no, no. Listen to the heartbeat. Calm down._

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

 _Not falling. I know what falling feels like. And falling isn't the same as floating._ This _is floating, what I'm doing right now._

 _Feels like it anyway. But then I'm not in the air. Have to be in water, that's the only thing people can float in. The only safe thing people can float in._

 _Doesn't feel like water though. Feels different. Feels almost sluggish, kind of heavy. Water doesn't. It's no trouble moving through water, not that I'm moving._

 _But water doesn't feel heavy. At least not when you're in it._

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

 _Wait. Dark? Can't move, or smell, or talk? Heartbeat? Floating? Kind of like water, but not really? And-_

 _Wait, what's that taste? I_ can _taste, but how? I can't move my mouth, and I haven't eaten anything recently enough to taste it. At least, not that I remember-_

 _Remember? What_ do _I remember? I remember the dark. The floating. The beat and it's rhythm. But all that's right now. Before that?_

Blinded by light.

 _Before that?_

 _Still blinded. Still by light. But there's something else around_ this _light. Dark? Dark around light? No, dark around two lights. Set a little ways apart?_

 _THAT'S IT!_

 _Two lights set a little ways apart. And dark around the lights._

 _Headlights at night!_

 _I was going to work the graveyard shift at work, and then-_

 _..._

 _But then..._

Gut-wrenching terror. Horrible pain. Metal crumpling, limbs twisting, bones breaking, blood leaking. Deafened by sound, deafened by something. No more pain.

Blinded by light then blinded by darkness.

 _It came around the bend too fast. Idiots. Should always have a designated driver. But then..._

 _What happened after that? To me? Did I...?_

 _..._

 _No, no, no. Couldn't be. Can't be. No way that I..._

 _A coma. I'm sure that's all it is. I'm in a coma. And I must be dreaming the heartbeat, the floating, the vibrations. Yeah._

 _That has to be it. I'll wake up any minute now. I'll be back to my life in no time._

* * *

A long time. Still dark. Still with the beat and its rhythm. The vibrations and their rhythm. The floating.

 _It has to be a coma. Can't be anything else. I couldn't have-_

 _NO, DON'T EVEN THINK THAT THOUGHT! OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T..._

 _..._

 _But this isn't what it's supposed to be like, right? If I were in a coma, wouldn't I still be aware of what was going on around me? I mean, I wouldn't be able to interact, but wouldn't I still be aware?_

 _So this, this can't be a coma, right? It has to be the other thing-_

 _NO! A COMA, I'M IN A COMA!_

Panic. Panic! Panic! Panic! Panic! PANIC!

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

 _That's right just..._

 _Just listen to the heartbeat. Calm down._

 _You'll wake up in no time._

* * *

Longer still. Dark. The beat and it's rhythm. The vibrations and theirs. The floating. Not a single change.

 _A coma. It has to be. It has to be. Has to be. Has to be. Has to be. Has to-_

* * *

Unfathomably long. No real sense of time, and thus, unfathomably long. Still dark. Still beating. Still vibrating. Still-

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub.

 _That's it. It can't be a coma. No way, not this long. Coma's aren't supposed to be like this. You're supposed to wake up. And it's supposed to only feel like it's been a second, no matter how long it's really been. Supposed to feel like a second. But it doesn't. It feels like an eternity. Can't be a coma._

...

 _I'm dead, aren't I?_

 _Killed in the crash. The headlights. At night. A car crash. I died in a car crash._

...

 _How fucking cliché is that?_

 _I mean, it's not like I ever thought I was going to die in some kind of crazy, heroic way, but still. I thought I was going to grow old. Die peacefully. In my sleep maybe._

 _I thought I was going to be able to just..._

 _Fade away. No regrets._

 _Just fade away, let myself finally go gentle into that good night. Once I just couldn't hold on any longer._

 _I_ never _thought I'd be the stereotypical twenty-some year old, flattened by the metaphorical bus._

...

 _And I hadn't even gotten my first book published yet._

 _So damn cliché._

* * *

Light. Blinded by bright light again.

Light fading quickly, but everything's a blur. Blind still. But now there are voices. Voices all around.

 _What's going on? Am I... alive?_

 _Was it a coma after all?_

* * *

There were a bunch of blurry shapes moving around above me, talking in...

I didn't know what, but it certainly wasn't English. Not that that was really my biggest concern at that exact moment. I reached upwards towards one of the blurs. That is to say, I 'told' my arm to move. Nothing happened. I was trying, so my brain had to be sending the signals, but my arm didn't seem to want to follow orders.

 _Oh God._

Acting on the terrifying thought that had just made itself known, I attempted to move my other arm. Nothing happened. My legs. Still, not a thing.

 _Oh no. Don't tell me the accident left me paralyzed?_

 _Shit. If I'm paralyzed, do these people, whoever they are, even realize that I'm awake? Do they still think I'm in a coma? Crap, I have to let them know that I'm awake. But if I can't move..._

I tried one last time to move, and I wasn't even being picky about which part moved. Hell, a pinky finger twitching would have set my mind at ease. But when nothing at all happened, I racked my brain for some other way to let them, the doctors I assumed, know that I was awake.

Suffice to say, it took a while for the obvious answer to claw it's way to the forefront of my panic-riddled mind. By the time it did, one of my legs felt like it had been lifted upwards, and someone or something was definitely slapping me on the sole of my foot. Which was bare for some reason...

"What are you hitting me for?!"

Is what I wanted to say. But that's not what came out.

"WAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAH! WAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The slapping stopped, but my brain went into overdrive.

 _WHAT THE HELL?! WHY IS THERE A CRYING BABY IN MY HOSPITAL ROOM?! GOD I HATE THAT SOUND! MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE SOMEONE!_

But the noise had already stopped.

 _Huh? Don't babies usually cry for longer than that? Take longer to calm down, or something? Wait..._

"Testing, testing. One, two, testing."

Is what I tried to say. But once again, that's not what came out.

"Waaah! Waaah!"

 _Oh, no way. I don't believe this..._

The crying had started as soon as I started trying to speak. And it had stopped the same way. In perfect time with my mouth. After a second, I realized that it had been the exact same way the first time I heard the crying.

 _There's no way in hell._

The heartbeat. The vibrations. Floating in some kind of liquid. Tasting food even though I never ate a thing.

 _I'm still in the coma. I'm just dreaming. Yeah, that's definitely it..._

Someone slapping my foot, and then stopping as soon as the crying started.

 _Yeah, definitely still in the coma. No way on Earth..._

Everyone around me, doctors if my assumption was correct, speaking something other than English.

 _No possible way that I did actually die, only to be..._

All in all, everything pointed to two possible conclusions. And one was far more likely than the other.

 _Yeah, I'm still alive, just in the coma. And I'm dreaming. Reincarnation isn't actually a thing. At least, not in my religion._

Of course, I never said which one I found to be more likely at that exact moment. The important thing? I had managed to convince myself once again that I wasn't dead, but rather just in a coma, and having a rather vivid dream. And in all honesty?

I think that's about the only thing that kept my sanity from leaving me right then. I was in a fragile state of mind, given my very fresh memories of my first near-death experience. So, I opted to believe the option that left me with a lot less to take in.

But that's about all I can say for the beginning of my 'dream'. The rest of my time in the hospital was pretty uneventful. Other than being carried, from what I could tell, to another part of the hospital, nothing much happened for a good little while, albeit a 'good little while' was mercifully shorter than my time in the Dark, as I had taken to calling that pitch-black place where I had spent so long contemplating my own memories.

It wasn't until the 'good little while' was over that things started getting interesting. Or at least as interesting as they can get for someone who's stuck in a coma and only dreaming. Or an infant.

* * *

But I think I've taken up enough of your precious time for one day, no?

So, now that I've begun the long, drawn-out process of introducing myself, why don't you all do the same, and then we can get down to business.

No, you certainly don't have to go into as much detail as I did. I doubt you could even if you tried.

Let's just say...

Tell me your names, hobbies, likes, and dislikes. That should be pretty easy, don't you think?

And maybe later, I'll tell you more about me.

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* * *

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 _"I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as a plant and rose to animal, I died as an animal and I was man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?" - Jalaluddin Rumi_

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A/N: Now I feel like I should apologize for making the chapter so short. But hey, I felt like that was the perfect place to end it. That way, we can jump straight into the start of all the crazy stuff at the beginning of next chapter. Which I will be starting at some point tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto-verse. Not the characters, nor the world, nor the concepts present within it. Shonen Jump and the Naruto-verse's creator, Masashi Kishimoto, own all rights to Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. I am making no profit off of this story, I simply wish to immerse myself and everyone reading within the amazing universe that Kishimoto has created.

A/N: As always, constructive criticism meant to help improve in areas that I am lacking, and thus increase your enjoyment of my work, is welcome. Hating for the sake of being an asshole is not welcome.

Thanks to digreg, animaetrash, ForgivingLesbian (love that), MusicOfMadness, and kaed1234 for following Inheritance.

Thanks to digreg, dawningfox, kaed1234 for favoriting Inheritance.

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 _"Most men would rather deny a hard truth than face it." - George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones_

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First Steps Arc: Chapter 2

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Alright, everyone excited and ready for their second day?

*sigh*

We're not doing this again, you guys. You need to just accept that I am perfectly punctual. You guys are late.

And besides, why make this little back and forth into a daily thing?

I mean all you're really doing is wasting your own time. So, should we get right to it, or would you rather I start the day off by continuing my introduction?

Really?

Huh.

I thought for certain that you'd rather get to business and then have story time after...

Oh well. Not like I'm going to complain.

Sooooo...

Where did I leave off?

Right. Just left the hospital.

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I can't really say much for the first few weeks of my new existence, though I had convinced myself that it was merely a coma-induced dream. What I _can_ say is that, whether this was a dream or not, I was fully conscious and fully aware, something that is generally not the case when one is dreaming. Of course, I had never been in a coma before, so I really didn't have any way of knowing if dreams experienced during comas were any different from ordinary dreams.

What I did know, however, was that this 'dream' seemed to be one of the rare few in which the dreamer is in full control. But I'm getting off track.

For the first five months of my life, my eyesight was so horrible that I couldn't even make out colors, let alone the more detailed aspects of my environment. Now, in the Before, as I had taken to calling my previous life, or rather everything I remembered before I fell into my coma, I had been legally blind. I could still see, but only the most vague of blurs without some kind of vision-enhancing apparatus. As such, I think it's no surprise that my lack of focused vision didn't really bother me all that much. What did bother me, however, was my sense of hearing.

Actually, that's not necessarily true. I could hear just fine. The problem was that I couldn't make sense of most of the things I was hearing. I mean, I could obviously still make sense of sounds like, say, a door sliding open. What I could not make sense of was whatever was being said by the various people around me. Most of what I heard people saying was clearly spoken, but in a language that I did not know.

I mean, I recognized it as Japanese, or at least some strange off-Japanese sublanguage. When you were as big a fan of anime as I was, you tended to be able to recognize Japanese when it's spoken. Or at least, you ought to be able to.

The problem was, I didn't know Japanese. I knew English and maybe a sentence of French, but that was about it.

Luckily for me, or unluckily, depending on your outlook, it seemed as though this 'dream' wasn't going to be ending any time soon. So naturally, I would have a lot of time to learn.

Add to that my seeming inability to really move in any substantial or meaningful way, and you could say that the first five months of this new existence of mine amounted to a whole lot of listening in on other people's conversations. Which is absolutely the case. For the first five months, I spent all my time listening to everyone around me whenever they spoke, picking up the language, albeit slowly, as children are wont to do. Of course, I didn't stop trying to move, kicking my legs and wheeling my arms, which didn't really yield me any kind of results, but I was _desperate_ for some physical activity.

But I'm forgetting something. The biggest hint that this was actually a dream, aside from all the other hints of course, was this...

I hesitate to describe it as anything other than a _sensation_. But I suppose there is a more adequate way that I could describe it. Near the end of my time in the Dark, I had started to feel insanely itchy all over. In all honesty, I should have mentioned it before now, considering that this itchy sensation was what proved that I still had a body, and I wasn't just some disembodied consciousness floating around on a higher plane of existence, or some other sci-fi trope like that.

Of course, by the time I felt the itchiness, I was able to move my body, at least slightly, but no amount of scratching, however miniscule, ever relieved the body-wide itch. But the thing was, after a little while, I started feeling another sensation throughout my body. It started out weak, barely even felt under the constancy of the itchiness. But it got gradually stronger, eventually overlapping with the itch. Of course, the latter didn't disappear, but this new sensation was so different, and so much more pleasant by comparison, that I was able to take my mind off of the itch almost completely.

This sensation almost felt like...

Pure energy. The second sensation, as opposed to the itch, made my whole body feel like it was vibrating, and I could practically _hear_ it humming all throughout my body. So, as I said, the best way to describe the way this second sensation felt is 'like pure energy'. And both of these sensations, to my surprise, not only continued, but also grew even stronger once I had left the Dark, and throughout the first five months. However, the most important aspect of this second sensation was how unbelievably foreign, _alien_ even, it felt.

It seemed to be just a natural part of my body, but my mind and my memories of the Before told me that _it_ _was not_. Because of this, because of its seeming unnaturalness, I was hyperaware of its presence. I felt the sensation, the buzzing as I had taken to calling it, at all times, but not just the sensation itself. The location of it, because it wasn't just some general, over-all feeling, but rather it felt focused, while also coursing through my entire body, almost like blood. The varying intensity of it. And I couldn't just feel it within my own body, but in all of my surroundings, both in the Dark, and in what came after.

And, as I'm sure you can imagine, after the first week, an entire seven days of being unable to do _anything at all_ , save for listening to everything going on around me, I decided to explore this foreign sensation. And low and behold, what did I discover? That I could manipulate it. That, while the buzzing and vibrating and humming certainly indicated that it was pure energy coursing through my body, it was also fluid. Or rather, malleable. I found that, much like my legs and arms, fingers and toes, I could 'tell' the sensation, or rather the energy, to go to a specific part of my body.

And so, that's how I occupied my time. Introspectively, so to speak. And it wasn't long after I started moving the energy around my body that I could move it to _outside_ my body. And even more interesting, I found, through my senses of touch, that the energy, when moved to outside my body, could have an affect on things.

For example, one day, in perhaps my third week, while I was moving the energy to outside my body, my hand specifically, I happened to move that hand. And imagine my surprise when I accidentally hit something, and then felt that something stick to my hand as I pulled the appendage back to myself. Which only meant that I had yet another 'exercise' I could do with this foreign energy, in order to help stave off the all-consuming boredom.

Of course, the more that I discovered I could do with the energy, the more quickly I discovered the downside. I could only do so much with the energy, could only manipulate it for so long, before I started to feel sluggish, kind of tired. Furthermore, I could only push it so much farther before 'sluggish and tired' turned into 'barely holding on to consciousness'. And if I pushed it even farther than that, it swiftly became 'losing my hold on life'.

And so it was that I nearly died for the second time, and, for the first time, I found myself scared shitless of how vivid this 'coma dream' was, that almost dying in it actually _felt_ like almost dying. Fading into the black very much felt like losing my grip, not only on consciousness, but on life itself. It was a frightening experience, to say the least. And I know that's probably surprising to hear, considering that I had already died once, so how could I possibly be so frightened by merely losing consciousness?

To answer that, I'll merely remind you that I had utterly convinced myself I was not dead, and that I had not been reincarnated, but rather was trapped in a coma-induced dream.

Once I woke up, however, I went straight back to finding different ways to manipulate the energy after only half-an-hour of being bored out of my mind from inactivity. Of course, I was more careful from then on, though I still pushed my ability to manipulate the energy to the absolute limit, and not just on occasion. I did so regularly. And I mean, can you really blame me? My adult mind was seemingly trapped in the body of an infant. That's literally, ingredient for ingredient, one of the many recipes for 'death by boredom'. Not literally, of course. But you get the picture.

Either way, it was at the five month mark, or at least what I believed to be the five month mark, when my vision started to gradually clear up. Once it finally had, after about a week, I began to notice things. Things that very much did not belong, dream or no.

Before my vision had cleared up, I had noticed that, about once a week, I would be picked up and carried a rather large distance, to what I could only assume was a different house, or maybe the hospital. I assumed this because I was left there for the next week before I was carried back again. Anyway, it was during one of these little trips, more specifically, that I began to notice things. For starters, the person holding me wore a light gray jacket.

Now, that in and of itself was not exactly strange. Hell, it wasn't even out of the ordinary. What was strange was how the jacket felt. There wasn't much give to it, and it felt very thick. Far too thick for the current weather at the time, which very much felt like late spring, maybe early summer. Even more than that, I could see a bunch of other people walking around the streets of whatever city, or town more like, that my I found myself in.

Suffice to say, the architecture that the town's buildings employed was rather unique, and iconic to my mind. As were the green-colored flak jackets and metal forehead protectors that a lot of people milling about were wearing. Even more peculiar, was what I saw when I looked up. There was a massive building, almost a tower, which bore the shape of a cylindrical pagoda, and had a massive red sign on one side of it. The sign had a large kanji written on it. Of course, it probably wouldn't have meant so much to me if it hadn't been the only one that I was capable of instantly recognizing.

After all, everyone around was speaking some form of Japanese, so I had already figured that I was somewhere in Japan. A sign with a kanji written on it wouldn't have surprised me that much. But it was what the kanji meant that surprised me. It was the kanji for 'fire'. As to why that's the one that I'd be able to recognize instantly, well...

Let's just say, it was the simplest one that had been used in this card game I was really into when I was a child in the Before. Granted, this version of it was even more simple. But I digress. In addition to this tower, also iconic to my mind, were the many flashes and blurs of green dashing across the rooftops. But there was one more thing. The thing that well-and-truly convinced me.

 _Ok. Now I know this is a dream._

Because there, standing in all it's glory as the backdrop to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, to Konoha, was the Hokage Monument.

 _Either that, or I really did die, and now I've been reborn into the Naruto-verse. Or I'm just completely off my fucking rocker._

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Alright, that's enough for one day, don't you think?

Yeah? Well too bad. It's my story, so I get to decide when I stop and when I keep going.

Now come on. We still got work to do today.

If you're really that interested, I'll pick up where I left off tomorrow.

But until then, let's get back to business.

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 _"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane." - Philip K. Dick, VALIS_

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A/N: Sorry again for the super short chapter, but it's going to pick up. Probably next chapter. It just felt like the perfect place to end it. And to anyone whose anxious to see Harigae and Itsuki again, sorry. You're gonna have to wait a while longer. But anyway, thanks for reading everybody, and I'll see you in the next one.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto-verse. Not the characters, nor the world, nor the concepts present within it. Shonen Jump and the Naruto-verse's creator, Masashi Kishimoto, own all rights to Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. I am making no profit off of this story, I simply wish to immerse myself and everyone reading within the amazing universe that Kishimoto has created.

A/N: As always, constructive criticism meant to help improve in areas that I am lacking, and thus increase your enjoyment of my work, is welcome. Hating for the sake of being an asshole is not welcome.

Thanks to NinjaChipmunk, StuntedDarkness, athenaincarnate, KellerWeller, warcraft505, CoGDork, and srirachacha for following Inheritance.

Thanks to StuntedDarkness, KellerWeller, srirachacha, and GraceHeart27 for favoriting Inheritance.

NatNicole: Thanks! *grins back*

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 _"Sometimes your heart needs more time to accept what your mind already knows" - Unknown_

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First Steps Arc: Chapter 3

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How's it go-

A little eager, aren't we?

Alright, alright. Give it a rest. I guess I'll just hop right back into it.

 _Oh dear, sweet Kami. What have I created?_

Now, let's see. Where did I leave off yesterday?

Yeah, I know. I'm the one reliving my life story.

I remember where I left off. I was just trying to irritate you.

Impatient much?

Anyway, I had just seen the Hokage Monument for the first time.

Well, not necessarily true. I had seen it before. Just not in person.

But that's neither here nor there, is it? Well, actually it is, but let's just get underway, shall we?

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For the next two weeks after my revelation, though I refused to think of it as such, I continued to see more and more signs that I had been reborn into the Naruto-verse. And dismissed each and every one as nothing more than a construct created by my subconscious, perhaps meant to occupy my mind while I remained trapped in my 'coma'. For example, I got some inkling, or at least a general idea, of who my parents were during my weekly stays at what seemed to be my two homes.

Come to think of it, I never really could think of an answer as to why I was switched back and forth every week between the two locations. Shared custody, perhaps? Whatever it was, I wouldn't learn the answer for a long time yet.

Regardless, the first signs I saw as to who my parents were would have been the symbol on the back of every single shirt at one I had previously just been calling Home 1, and the green markings on the foreheads of the majority of Home 2's inhabitants, as well as the very unique eyes of all of Home 2's inhabitants.

Simply put: the Uchiha Clan crest and the Hyuuga Clan Branch Family's cursed seal, and the Byakugan, respectively. These two symbols, and/or markings, gave me the distinct impression that one of my parents was an Uchiha, and the other a Hyuuga. As such, I began calling Home 1 and 2 the Uchiha and Hyuuga Clan compounds, and it wasn't long before I got a pretty good idea which of the people who tended to carry me around were my father and mother, the latter of which, strangely, did not appear to be an Uchiha or a Hyuuga. And of course, given all this new information about my location, I could infer that the energy I felt within and without my body, and had been utilizing and practicing with, was in fact chakra.

Of course, there wasn't really anything I could do with or in regards to this new information. I was still trapped in the body of an infant, after all. So, I continued to do as I had been for the first five months, finding various new ways to manipulate my chakra and practice with it, continuing to practice with it using the methods I had already discovered, listening to everything going on around me, and also, now, watching my surroundings very intently. After all, while I had wholeheartedly convinced myself that I was merely trapped in a coma-induced dream, it's not like I could do anything to wake myself up more quickly.

At least, nothing that I was aware of. And I knew myself far too well to think that I wouldn't die of boredom if I didn't do something. So, why not observe my surroundings utilizing every means available to me? Why not practice with my chakra in each and every way that I can?

And so, that was how I continued for the next three months. Almost exactly as I had for the first five, albeit with a few changes. But, unfortunately, I would soon discover that this 'dream', or rather this new world, was not content to merely let me live and let live.

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It was at a little past the eight month mark when things changed. I was at the Hyuuga Clan compound, and by my count there were still three or four days before I would be taken back to the Uchiha compound for the next week, when suddenly the sliding door to my nursery opened, and in walked two people I instantly recognized. Neither was my mother or father. Rather, one was a withered old Hyuuga woman whom did not bear the cursed seal, and thus was most likely a member of the Main Family. The other woman looked to be middle-aged and tall, with deathly pale skin and pure white hair, but her most distinct feature were the bandages, covered in kanji and various other markings, wrapped around her eyes.

I had seen both of these women before. The Hyuuga woman I had obviously seen around the compound, and I say obviously because I assumed she was a Clan elder. The other woman, however, did not seem to be of any relation to either the Hyuuga or Uchiha Clans, but rather seemed to have been a good friend of both of my parents.

But regardless, I found myself wondering in my head why the two women were there, and it would not be long before I got my answer. The two women exchanged a few brief, hushed words, only a few of which could I make out, as while I had been slowly picking up on the language, no one had yet begun to teach me its intricacies. But, from what I could understand, the blindfolded woman seemed to be almost pleading with the elder about something, while the withered old husk merely brushed her off as briskly as possible.

Either way, once the hushed conversation was over, the blindfolded woman bent down and picked me up, carrying me out of the room. She carried me through my home at the Hyuuga compound, and it was only once she slid open the rice paper door to the outside that I realized something strange was definitely going on. Not only was I being moved a good three or four days before I should have been, but it was pitch black outside. Blindfold had me held in such a way that I was looking over her shoulder, and as she turned around the shut the door behind her, I was facing sort of up, towards the night sky, and I could see that the moon was only the merest sliver.

As such, it cast only the slightest of lights. Luckily, Blindfold didn't seem to need much light to find her way. Which, of course, made perfect sense, given that her eyes were covered. I doubted she _ever_ needed much light to tell where she was going. As she made her way towards the compound's main gates, I found myself wondering if she was a sensory-type.

Of course, I was working on the assumption that she was in fact a shinobi, but I was fairly certain that she was. So far as my memory, and thus I, was aware, civilians in the Naruto-verse didn't wear the Konoha flak jacket or head protector. Of course, there wasn't really anything saying that my 'dream' was exactly the same as what I remembered from the Before.

Blindfold took to the trees once the guards at the gates had closed the door behind us, and I must say, I had never felt anything quite as exhilarating as moving as fast as shinobi are capable of. Being in a car certainly didn't compare. You couldn't feel the wind in your face unless you rolled down the driver's side window, and even then, it had always been more of an annoyance to me than anything else. But this...

This was different. It almost felt that rush of adrenaline you get when your fight or flight instincts kick in. Of course, I still couldn't feel the wind in my face, considering that I was facing away from the direction in which Blindfold was moving. But I still closed my eyes as the wind chilled me, through the blanket in which I was swathed even. I had always preferred cooler weather, and this wind that Blindfold's speed was producing certainly did the trick.

As it was, I had just opened my eyes to see if I could make out anything that might give me a hint as to where Blindfold was taking me, because I couldn't be certain that our destination was the Uchiha compound, when I saw the flash of scant moonlight on cold steel. My reaction was instantaneous, as I'm sure anyone else's would have been.

I attempted to shout a warning to Blindside, completely forgetting that I was technically an infant, didn't have enough understanding of the language to actually formulate a warning, and wasn't capable yet of actually producing the words even if I did. As I'm sure you can imagine, what came out was my least favorite sound.

An infant's cry echoed through the forest, made all the more unbearable by the knowledge that my mouth was what had produced the sound. Thankfully, it still managed to get the job done, as Blindfold, thrown off guard by my exclamation, seemed to see through whatever trick our attacker had been using to hide himself from her, I presumed, sensory capabilities.

As such, Blindfold swiftly ducked and, shifting me so she could hold me with only one arm, moved to intercept our assailant's next strike. Of course, I couldn't see any of what was going on, but I can certainly tell you what I was feeling at that moment. Dream or no, I was pretty damn spooked. I mean, I knew I was in the Naruto-verse, or at least dreaming that I was, but the whole 'shinobi may be cool, but they are also highly proficient killing machines' thing hadn't really hit me until that exact moment, as I felt Blindfold moving this way and what I could only imagine were rapid bouts of hand-to-hand combat.

Of course, I _could_ see what was going on behind Blindfold, and as such I saw three more assailants hopping through the trees, seemingly looking to either ambush Blindfold while she was distracted, or surround and overwhelm her. Whichever option it was, I recognized their uniforms, albeit only just.

Each of them wore dark pants, white and red shin and wrist guards, and a white and red flak jacket that went over only one shoulder. If my memory served, that was the uniform worn by shinobi from The Village Hidden by Clouds. Kumo. Unfortunately, this realization brought another epiphany. Kumo was always consolidating its power through various methods, according to my memories. One of these methods was stealing secrets or other such things from other Hidden Villages. Kekkei genkai, for example.

Which meant that, as an, assumed, member of the Hyuuga and Uchiha Clans, and thus holding the potential to awaken both the Byakugan and the Sharingan, they were probably after me.

 _Damnit! Coma or no, can't I just have a normal dream for once?!_

Blindfold dodged this way and that, delivering an attack of her own here or there, whenever an opportunity presented itself. For my part, I made sure to cry out whenever an attack came from behind Blindfold, though given the sensory abilities that I assumed she had, this was really mostly for my benefit. This was the first time I had been involved in a fight, let alone one that was probably more of a mortal combat, and doing something, even if it was making that God-awful noise that I despised so damn much, really helped my nerves.

Of course, there was really nothing to prepare me for the field of red that suddenly clouded my vision. But it wasn't a translucent red, which I imagined was the color everyone from the Before meant when they talked about seeing nothing but red. It wasn't a bright red, like a flash of pain that people talked about in the Before either. It was a dark red, and while it was opaque, it seemed to shift and move. And that's when I realized. There had certainly been enough blades flashing around to warrant it. Blood.

But then I was falling, and I wasn't seeing the red anymore. That's when I realized that it had been Blindfold's blood, not that of one of the Kumo shinobi. And then I came to rest, in what felt like pair of arms. I looked up at my savior, and what I saw sent shivers down my little spine. Tanned skin. A shock of short, dark brown, practically black hair. Brown eyes, slightly narrowed. But it wasn't that that got my attention. Rather, it was the x-shaped scar on the man's chin.

 _Danzo Shimura._

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Alright, that's all for today. Let's be off.

No, I'll tell you who Danzo is tomorrow.

Now come on. We do still have work to do today.

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 _"You can close your eyes to reality but not to memories." - Stanislaw Jerzy Lec_

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A/N: Sorry for the third time. It's going to pick up next chapter, because that's when Asahi's journey really begins. Also, to anyone who's favorited or followed _me_ rather than just one of my stories, the only reason I'm not thanking you for doing so is because I can't figure out how to see who all has done so, and I deleted most of the emails from the site before I decided to start thanking people for favoriting and following, and I'm not going to thank some people but not thank others. That'd just make me an asshole. But anyway, I'll see you next time.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto-verse. Not the characters, nor the world, nor the concepts present within it. Shonen Jump and the Naruto-verse's creator, Masashi Kishimoto, own all rights to Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. I am making no profit off of this story, unless of course you count the smiles of all the little children in the world as profit, I simply wish to immerse myself and everyone reading within the amazing universe that Kishimoto has created.

A/N: As always, constructive criticism meant to help improve in areas that I am lacking, and thus increase your enjoyment of my work, is welcome. Hating for the sake of being an asshole is not welcome.

Thanks to TheOneKrafter, Seven Deadly, subath, NightlyRowenTree, .27, Railsaraki3, Ali858, and CHARA ATE MY SOUL for following Inheritance.

Thanks to TheOneKrafter, God Emperor Terra Bornstellar, Railsaraki3, Ali858, and CHARA ATE MY SOUL for favoriting Inheritance.

Mango eater 24: Danzo is a pretty serious "OH SHIT" moment in and of himself, isn't he?

NatNicole: Thanks! And also, your assessment of "CRUD" is well-founded, as you'll soon see over the next few chapters.

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 _"How I hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity." - William S. Burroughs_

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First Steps Arc: Chapter 4

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What's up?

What, you guys were waiting on little old me?

Aww.

How sweet.

Oh, I see.

You only wanted me to show up so you could have some more story time.

Well what if I don't feel like story time today?

What if I decide we're just going to get straight to work?

Kami, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

 _Geez, you make one little joke and suddenly you've got a full-blown rebellion on your hands._

Alright then, I guess it's story time.

Now, let me just preface everything I'm going to say with this.

Danzo was an...

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... _absolute monster._

I never found out what happened to Blindfold. At least, not that night. Or even that year. Hell, I wouldn't know for certain until I was ten years old. All I could assume was that she'd been killed by those Kumo shinobi. But on the other hand, I had many other things that were more important to be thinking about. Like the fact that, dream or no, I was now in the custody of perhaps the most cold-hearted shinobi to have ever existed in the history of the Naruto-verse, with the sole possible exception being Madara.

My only real saving grace was the fact that even Danzo couldn't expect to enact what ever plans he had for me while I was still an infant. This one, simple fact kept me safe from whatever horrible training Root operatives were forced to endure for the first two years of my life. However, I was hyperaware of the knowledge that the older I got, the closer I got to the day when Danzo would start doing...whatever he was intending to do in regards to me. I really had no way of knowing what was in store for me. And besides, at this point, I had pretty much decided that I wouldn't be waking up from my 'coma-induced dream' anytime soon.

And though I had entirely convinced myself that it was all just a dream, it _felt_ real. It didn't feel like any of the dreams that I remembered having in the Before. There wasn't a single dream I remembered in which I had actually _felt_ the sensations that one feels in real life. But in this 'dream', I could. So in short, while my mind couldn't believe that all of this was real, my body knew for certain that it was. And so, in those first two years that Danzo, or his underlings at the very least, treated and took care of me like the infant that I was, I came to a decision.

I would continue to think of this as nothing more than a product of my subconscious, as I was fairly certain that, whether it was or wasn't, that had to be the best option for keeping my mental health intact. At least for the time-being. However, I couldn't lie to my body. And so, while I would think of it as a dream, I would treat the world around me, and everything that happened to me, as though it was every bit as real as the world I remembered in the Before. As it turned out, that mentality, that decision, would save my life on many occasions to come.

The first of those occasions would be the entirety of the eight years of that followed my second birthday.

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Suffice it to say, Danzo was a very strict, very stern, and very harsh taskmaster. From the minute I could walk, I was required to. A morning walk and an afternoon walk, every day. I wasn't allowed to crawl anymore, and no one carried me either. If I was moving, I was walking. When I turned one, my lessons began. History, mathematics, science, the basics of chakra and its uses, and the principles of combat. I was expected to have memorized and mastered each lesson in increasingly shorter amounts of time, and the time between new lessons steadily decreased, until I was memorizing a lesson in a single day and learning the next one the day after.

The number of subjects increased, and the subjects themselves became broader yet at the same time more specific. History turned into world history, which then branched into the history of the Land of Fire, historical relations between nations and ninja villages, and shinobi history, which more or less amounted to military history. Mathematics split into geometry, specifically the calculation of things like trajectory and acceleration via known mathematical values, and discrete mathematics, i.e., determining the most efficient means of accomplishing specific tasks.

Science turned into chemistry, biology, botany, toxicology, and the basics of fuinjutsu, or sealing. There were a number of other topics that my lessons covered as well. Writing, reading, and speaking the language were the most basic of these. Of the more advanced lessons, tactics, survival, and various forms of medicine featured prominently.

At the age of two, chakra control was added to my, at that time, relatively short list of daily exercises. I was only given the most basic of exercises at first, such as leaf sticking, but the lessons gradually grew more advanced until, a week before my third birthday, I was introduced to tree walking. It was then that I realized just how little Danzo cared for my physical well-being. Fortunately, I wasn't stupid. I didn't try to run up the tree over and over again until I could stick to it without trouble. I probably would have killed myself if I had.

When I turned three, I was introduced to kata. Aside from these choreographed movements I was required to complete daily, I was also given more familiar exercises to complete, such as laps, push ups, sit ups, pull ups, and many others that I remembered from the Before but couldn't recall the names of. Just like everything else, new and more difficult exercises were introduced with increasing frequency, and I was expected to master them in increasingly shorter amounts of time.

It was when I turned four that I was introduced not only to water walking but also to taijutsu. As with everything else, these two exercises got steadily more difficult, with newer taijutsu moves coming more and more frequently and added into the sparring regimen with less and less time given to truly memorize and master them. Taijutsu specifically was something I struggled with more than anything else. At first I simply chalked it up to the fact that I hadn't been great, or even good, at physical activities in the Before, so why would I be now?

Eventually, I realized that physical characteristics wouldn't necessarily carry over like mental ones did, but that still left me with the question of why I was doing so poorly. I had been doing my daily exercises daily, ironically enough, for an entire year at that point. I had built up at least a little bit of muscle, so it shouldn't have been nearly as hard, or as taxing, as it was. It wasn't until another 'trainee', I guess would be the appropriate word, asked me why I wasn't enhancing my muscles with chakra that I realized what the problem was. I wasn't enhancing my muscles with chakra.

And I immediately realized why that was. Everyone else did it subconsciously, because to them, chakra was not a foreign entity. An invader, entirely alien to both their minds and their bodies. However, I did not immediately begin enhancing my muscles with chakra, as I developed the mentality that the longer I trained without chakra enhancement, the stronger I would be, especially when compared to others, when I actually started doing so. And luckily for me, there were no repercussions whenever I would fall a little bit behind in that particular area.

I chalked that up to Danzo having realized the same thing I did. As a method of training, not enhancing your muscles with chakra was a very good idea. One just needed to know how to enhance one's muscles for actual combat purposes. As such, another exercise was added to my regimen of chakra control. Enhancing my muscles. My progress in that particular area was measured by the amount of havoc that I could wreak on a tree trunk.

And this was how my life continued until I turned six. New lessons were taught, they were learned, and they were mastered. And then still practiced or studied continuously from then on, so as not to forget them or lose my skills in specific areas, in addition to the constancy of new lessons being taught and memorized and mastered.

It was all very damaging for my psyche, though I didn't realize it at the time. Far from it, in fact. I was caught between a mix of amazement at the results that the training and lessons yield, and fear of what Danzo might do to me if I didn't perform as expected, at the very least.

Of course, if I'm completely honest, I must admit that merely being in this world, one so different from the one I remembered, had to have been at least somewhat detrimental to my mental health, but it was far worse while under Danzo's 'care'. Or at least, I like to think so. If you find it difficult to believe, then just imagine it this way. Not only are you an adult's mind stuffed into the body of a child, but for the first time in as many years as you can remember, you're not being treated as a child, or an adult, or even as a person at all.

You're not even being treated as a common object. Rather, you're being treated as a tool to be molded, as a weapon to be forged. And in the eyes of almost all those around you, that truly is all that you are. A weapon in the making. However, there was a single bright spot, and one that probably helped save my sanity at that.

In fact, she just so happened to be the other 'trainee' who had pointed out why I was struggling so much with taijutsu.

Her name was Sayaka, and I had been told since I was old enough to speak that she was my sister. Unfortunately, I remembered what that meant in the harsh, cruel world of Root. It meant that, at some point down the line, we were likely going to be pitted against each other in a battle to the death. And the beginning of the end, as it were, came on my sixth birthday.

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Alright, off to work we go.

You know, at some point you guys are gonna have to realize that whining will get you nowhere.

Because it's my life story, and I'll tell it at my own pace.

Now, we're off!

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 _"The race of man, while sheep in credulity, are wolves for conformity." - Carl Clinton Van Doren_

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A/N: I apologize yet again for the short chapter, but I swear they're going to get longer. At some point. Eventually. Kami, I sound like a broken record.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto-verse. Not the characters, nor the world, nor the concepts present within it. Shonen Jump and the Naruto-verse's creator, Masashi Kishimoto, own all rights to Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. I am making no profit off of this story, unless of course you count the smiles of all the little children in the world as profit, I simply wish to immerse myself and everyone reading within the amazing universe that Kishimoto has created.

A/N: If anyone's looking for some good stories similar to this one while they wait for my updates, you should definitely check out Only a Moron by swabloo (the story that inspired my rewrite), Between Two Worlds by Artfuldemon, and Dreaming of Sunshine by Silver Queen (the stories that inspired me to write Inheritance in the first place). Also, immensely sorry that it's taken me this long to update, I've been busy with personal stuff and new video games. As always, constructive criticism meant to help improve in areas that I am lacking, and thus increase your enjoyment of my work, is welcome. Hating for the sake of being an asshole is not welcome.

Thanks to knightwatchers, Shiovaun, Sticks Stones and S'mores, lizyeh2000, Shiroji IA, Wolf Riddle, StoryCrafteer, SandSasori, csezka, lucsld, sarcastic pandacat, MyNameIsLaura, FightThePower92, Dased22, Mad-Ad, christian77611, redrovaredrova, Nilinara, YueShadow, BluebirdSayGoodbye, Scarletskys, Phantomdancer15, ita123, Akira D. Ryusuke, Greywill25, and Chester-Grey for following Inheritance.

Thanks to Shiovaun, wolfzero7, Sticks Stones and S'mores, StoryCrafteer, NightsBlackRose13, antishock, JaguarPaw97, 89ingenting, FightThePower92, Dased22, redrovaredrova, BluebirdSayGoodbye, Ash6751, Akira D. Ryusuke, hachinonana, and Chester-Grey for favoriting Inheritance.

Mango eater 24: MANGO-SAN NOOOOOOO! Again, sorry it was so short. I'm going to step it up from the next chapter onwards.

NightlyRowenTree: Thanks! I must be doing something right if even the trees like my story...kidding.

lizyeh2000: How can I not update ASAP when I'm getting so much love? Depends on your definition of ASAP though. Sorry again for the long wait.

Willowtuft: Thanks to you too! Man, I guess the trees really are fans. Well, at least the willows aren't weeping, right? And I sure hope they don't start whomping.

MusicOfMadness: I wouldn't say for life, but you're certainly right about Danzo. And thanks. I only just now realized that I haven't made Asahi's gender in any way obvious. And come to think of it, I haven't even said his/her name in any of the re-written chapters, have I? Well, now that presents an opportunity.

NatNicole: I know right! Although I don't see specifically how an Uzumaki or a Hatake in general would be bad...

Guest: I am so, so, soooooooo sorry that I've taken so long to update. I'm really bad at sticking to routines, plus I've been glued to Person 5 like white on rice for the past month or so. And that goes for everyone. I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to update Inheritance.

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 _"If mental abuse were a punishable crime, a lot of parents would be in jail serving a long term." - Maddy Malhotra_

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First Steps Arc: Chapter 5

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Rise and shine!

Isn't the early morning sun just the best?

What?!

I don't care how early it is, you should be used to it by now!

You're supposed to be bright-eyed and cotton-tailed, no matter what time you wake up!

What?

No, of course it's _cotton_ -tailed. Who in their life ever said bright-eyed and _bushy_ -tailed?

Because rabbit's don't have bushy tails. They have cotton tails!

Hell, who ever though up that saying is stupid anyway. Humans don't have tails.

You see? Now you've gone and spoiled my mood. I don't even feel like continuing my life story anymore.

*Sigh*

Fine, fine, whatever. Just, settle down and settle in. I feel like taking my time today.

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I realized yesterday that I glossed over some very important details about my 'dream'. I guess I'll start with the simple basics, huh?

First and foremost, my body felt all wrong, although I didn't even notice until about five or six, probably because it was at that time that I had finally shed most of the pudgy baby fat. Of course, it could also be that at that age there's only one major outward difference. Or maybe I was just too distracted by the alien feeling of chakra coursing through my body and the entirely alien surroundings of the Village Hidden in the Leaves to notice. Either way, this works out perfectly, seeing as how five or six is the age that I left off at yesterday, right?

Suffice to say, however, once I noticed the wrongness, I realized something important. A change that your average person wouldn't undergo unless they chose to. Suffice to say, I hadn't just been reborn into a different world. I had been reborn into a different world, _as the fairer sex_. That means 'girl', by the way, in case you don't already know that. If you don't, you'll probably hear it plenty as you get older.

And I could certainly feel why everyone called women the fairer sex. My entire body, especially my hands and feet, toes and fingers, just _felt_ more petite and more slender, respectively. Maybe it was like chakra. Maybe I was just hyperaware to the presence of the changes once they presented themselves, because I had lived with such a different body for so long.

Honestly, I'm surprised it took me as long as it did to notice the changes, what with the biggest change and all. Not to put too fine a point on it, my...

Uh...

C _rotchular area_ was where the most significant and, at this stage of the game, most noticeable change had been wrought. I was now sporting an entirely different set of... _equipment_ , as it were.

*Coughs awkwardly*

I seriously hope you've all heard about the birds and the bees already. Because otherwise, I'm looking at some more awkward, uncomfortable conversations before the day is done. But parents are prudes anyway. We've all got to learn sometime. And if you don't understand what I'm telling you, allow me to put it simply.

I was a man in the Before. Always had been, and that was never going to change. At least, not if I had any say in the matter. But as one particular car going way too damn fast has proven, I really didn't have much say in a whole lot of things. And so, now I am a woman. A girl at the time though. So yeah. There's that.

Luckily, this particular piece of information didn't affect me nearly as much as it might have if I hadn't been _reborn_ into a _different world_. Or if I hadn't convinced myself that none of this was _actually_ happening to me. But let's get back to where I was, shall we?

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"ONEECHAN!"

I screamed an irritatingly shrill, girly shriek as I shot upwards, my forehead slamming into one of the wooden boards that supported the top bunk, ripping a pained groan from my mouth and sending my hands flying up towards my head, clutching my forehead tightly as I rolled over onto my side and curled up into the fetal position. Not my idea of a good start to the morning.

"You ok Onee-chan?" came the semi-squeaky voice that was the absolute embodiment of innocence. I turned my head to look over my shoulder at Sayaka, who at this point really was my little sister. Not that she was all that much younger than myself, but still. It didn't matter to me that we shared no blood relation. I learned in the Before that the whole 'blood is thicker than water' thing, is complete bullshit. Don't get me wrong, family is important, I'm not saying that it's not.

But despite what everyone wants to, and seemingly does, believe, it isn't blood that defines family. Blood doesn't even factor into the equation, not really. It's the people that will always stand by you, will always have your back, would be willing to lay down their life for you. That's what family is. And Danzo, my new 'father' had done nothing but reinforce that belief. Sayaka, however, was truly my sister, and I was pretty damn certain that she always would be.

I sighed, still clutching my forehead, and feeling the knot forming already, as I looked into Sayaka's ocean blue eyes that oozed innocence.

"I'm fine Sayaka. What did you need?" I muttered, irritated that I was in pain and that I had been woken up but at the same time unable to stay mad at that little face.

"Danzo wants to see us." Sayaka said matter-of-factly, and I felt that same pang of even parts guilt and anger when I saw the look of absolute admiration and adoration that shown in Sayaka's eyes, and was written all over her face, whenever Danzo's name left her mouth. I felt guilty because I wasn't able to save my sister from the brainwashing that I had always known Danzo loved so much. Was it a bit irrational that I felt guilty about something I had no control over? Probably. But feelings are funny that way.

The anger was obvious. My sister had been brainwashed to believe that Danzo was literally the greatest man in the entire world and that the greatest use of her talents was serving him unquestioningly and with absolute loyalty. Regardless, I swallowed both feelings, as I had become accustomed to doing, and merely asked the next logical question.

"What for?" I asked, though I figured it was probably yet another new exercise or lesson. I couldn't go a single day without learning something new anymore. Not that I was complaining. I genuinely enjoyed the lessons themselves, despite the person teaching them, though I couldn't quite say why. Perhaps it had something to do with the kind of person I was in the Before, and how much I was already beginning to differ from that person, or maybe it was just my intense desire to be a ninja. I mean, who in their right mind would be reborn into the Naruto-verse and decide _not_ to become a shinobi?

It certainly wouldn't be the easiest path, but that didn't bother me in the slightest. Hell, I think the fact that it wouldn't be easy actually encouraged me more, considering that the easy path was the one I'd taken in the Before. And look where that got me. Either dead and reborn into a new world or stuck in a coma dreaming a very fanciful dream. Of course, the point was entirely moot, considering that I really didn't have a choice _but_ to become a shinobi. I wasn't certain what the alternatives were, but I was fairly sure that I really didn't want to find out.

Sayaka put one index finger on her chin and pursed her lips, a sure sign that she was thinking or trying to remember something. After a moment or two, she removed her finger, put her arms behind her back, closed her eyes and gave me a little smile, shrugging as she did so.

"I don't remember. But he wants to see us, and now you're up. So let's go, Onee-chan." Sayaka replied cheerily, and I just gave her a dry stare. If there was even a possibility that cuteness could be weaponized, I was certain Sayaka could do so fairly easily. Hell, she practically already had when it came to me. All she really had to do was flash that little smile, and I'd be tagging along behind her like a lost puppy. That or pout. Or really do anything at all. In case you can't tell, I had never encountered anything or anyone more adorable than Sayaka.

"You know, there's a difference between being _awake_ and being _up_ , Sayaka." I said matter-of-factly, even though I knew resistance was futile. Danzo didn't tend to like it when his wants, or rather his orders, were ignored. And even if I was the rebellious type, I couldn't bring myself to ignore Sayaka anyway. Let alone tell her no. That might just break her heart and mine.

"Which are you, Onee-chan?" Sayaka asked innocently, tilting her head to one side and letting her eyes go all big in perhaps the best puppy dog face I've ever seen, even harder to resist than the face of an actual puppy. I hated and loved it simultaneously whenever she made this face, because while it was adorable as all hell, it always made me feel guiltier than a convicted murder. That would've been better if I didn't know, with absolute certainty, that I had nothing to be guilty for. And if I didn't know that Sayaka wasn't even trying to guilt-trip me, it was just something she naturally did.

"Up, Sayaka. I'm up. _Not_ awake," I grumbled, tenderly holding my forehead with one hand while rubbing the sleep out of my eyes with the other, "But I have to wake up sometime, and I guess now's as a time as any." I continued, sighing inwardly. I had never been an early riser in the Before, not unless I absolutely had to be, like while I was still in school, or when I had to work in the mornings. Funny thing about that? If Root was an accurate depiction of how most people in Konoha lived out their daily lives, then I was one of the exceedingly rare few in the Village who tried as hard as possible not to wake up before noon.

Sayaka, for her part, took no notice whatsoever of my internal musings, as if she could, but rather fired that innocent smile at me once more. "Well then come on Onee-chan."

And with that, Sayaka had my hand clutched in both of hers and was dragging me out of bed. This didn't work so well for me, as I had always rapped my blanket around me like a cocoon whenever I slept, and seeing as how no one that I know of, myself included, was capable of remaining perfectly still while they slept, this usually resulted in me having to disentangle myself from my blanket whenever I decided I was ready to get up.

Sayaka, however, didn't know this, or had forgotten, or just plain didn't care. The first two, I'm certain. But either way, I'm sure you can imagine the end result.

My shout of pain and growl of irritation were muffled by the wooden floorboards as I tripped over my own feet, tangled up as they were in my blanket, and went crashing straight to the floor, my still throbbing forehead smacking loudly and painfully against it, Sayaka still holding both of my hands in hers and looking down at me with a worried expression on her face.

"Onee-chan?" she asked, her voice equal parts confusion and concern.

"Yes Sayaka?" came my muffled reply.

"Are you ok?"

I sighed, irritated with myself for my inability to stay mad at that adorable voice. "Yeah Sayaka. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You already hit your head, and now you did it again." she asked, the concern still there, though the confusion wasn't. I thought I heard a slight waver in her voice. Oh no. She realized it was her fault I had fallen. If I didn't assure her that I was in perfect health, she'd decide that it was her fault I got hurt, and then...

Then...

Oh god no...

Not the water works...

They're my one true weakness...

I gathered my arms beneath me and pushed upward, getting myself off of the ground before pulling my legs out from the blanket one at a time. Once that was done, I put my feet on the floor and pushed upward, bouncing to my feet with far more jovial energy and bubbliness than I had or felt. I plastered a happy-go-lucky smile on my face and reached out a hand to pat Sayaka on the head and tousle her hair.

"I'm perfectly fine Sayaka. I promise. Ok?" I asked her, the ungodly amount of cheer in my voice belying the irritation buzzing around in my head. She giggled and nodded.

"Good. Wait for me outside, ok? I'm gonna change, and then we can go see what Danzo wants, ok?" I asked her, and she nodded, a happy smile on her face once again.

"Ok." she replied, before turning on her heels and skipping out of the trainees' barrack. I let out the seething breath I'd been holding at the same time I let my cheerful smile drop into a frown so deep, you'd think there was a storm coming. I turned back to the bed, kneeling down at the side of it and pulling the trunk containing my clothes and ninja tools out from under it. As I rifled through the trunk and pulled out my two ninja tool pouches, as well as my usual attire, I also rifled through my thoughts.

I was confused, as I had been ever since I met Sayaka. It wasn't my irritation that confused me, as I wasn't irritated with her, and even if I had been, it was old hat to me at this point. I had always had two instinctual reactions to pain and injury. I would either laugh uncontrollably, or get angry, almost irrationally so. Unfortunately, it was almost always the latter. But no, it wasn't my irritation at knowing I was going to have a knot on my forehead the size of the Hokage Monument that I was confused about.

I was confused about Sayaka. Or rather, by the knowledge that no matter what she did or how I felt, I was unable to stand it when she cried, or to stay angry with her, or anything else of that sort. Even more confusing was that I could never bring myself to be mean to her in any way, or to make her cry, or anything like that. I simply didn't understand why this was. After all, Sayaka wasn't the first sister I had had.

I had a sister in the Before, a sister by blood. She had always infuriated or irritated or annoyed me, more than half the time without even trying, or even being consciously aware that she was doing so. I had made her cry on multiple occasions, though I suppose, looking back on it, I did always feel immediately guilty once the tears started, but that guilt had been mixed in with the still-present irritation. It probably had to do with how irritating I found it to be that all she had to do was start crying, and then suddenly I was the bad guy unless I stopped being angry and apologized.

But it had never been that easy for me to drop my anger. I had a fierce temper, always had, always would, and it liked to flare up almost instantly and then take its sweet time cooling back down again.

I dressed myself as these questions and speculations bounced around in my head, donning the short-sleeved mesh top I wore under everything else, before slipping my usual high-collared, dull lilac shirt on over it, zipping it all the way up so that it felt almost like I were wearing a turtle-neck. Over that went the standard, long-sleeved, black midriff jacket worn by all Root operatives, and then up came the black, three-quarters-length pants with the bottom hems bound with bandages so they didn't snag on anything, and lastly, on went the black shinobi sandals.

A few bandages around the right thigh beneath the strap of my first tool pouch, plus the second pound fastened to the back of my waist, and I looked the part of a shinobi in training. And of course, right as I spun on my heel to leave the barrack and let Sayaka lead me to our oh so loving father, my two greatest irritants made themselves heard.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Kaoru-sensei's favorite little pet, Asahi Shimura."

I sighed, outwardly and loudly, as I came face to face with the Koshigaya twins. Named Soichiro and Sachiko, they were brother and sister, respectively, though at that point in time, one could, and almost always would, think they were both girls. Neither of them had ever had their pale blue hair cut, so they shared the same, admittedly tidy, mane of long straight hair falling to their waists. Besides that, their facial structures were only marginally different from one another, the end result being that Soichiro looked just as feminine in the face as Sachiko. Pair this with the fact that neither of them were old enough for the more obvious physical differences to have even started popping up and Soichiro's voice being at least two octaves _higher_ than his sister's, and voila. The perfect recipe for Soichiro being constantly mistaken for a girl.

Both twins were grinning savagely at me as I turned around. I sighed again, though this one was filled to the brim with irritation. I was so not in the mood for these two right then. I mean, I was never in the mood to deal with either of them, let alone both of them at once, but, as you'll recall, I was in a worse mood than normal that day. However, I couldn't let them know they were getting to me. In my experience from the Before, letting someone know they were getting under your skin was the number one most surefire way to get them to try even harder to do so.

As such, rather than show them just how much I loathed their very existences, I forced yet another cheerful smile onto my face. In response, their own grins faltered. Either they were unsure why I seemed to be happy, or they were unnerved by said apparent happiness. I really didn't care either way. Soichiro, the one who had spoken previously, opened his mouth to say something else, but I cut him off, all the while maintaining my jovial expression.

"Wow Ichi," Soichiro's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, "You actually remembered my name. I'm surprised you have the space left for it in that big ol' noggin of yours, what with the way you've been complaining about how many new lessons we've been getting lately. But hey, the world's full of surprises I guess. Now, if you don't mind, could I get by? Sayaka's waiting for me." I finished cheerfully, relishing in the glare with which Soichiro was currently trying, to no avail, to kill me.

I loved calling him by that shortened version of his name, specifically because he hated it so damn much. Something to do with how much less masculine it was than his full name, I'm sure. As a former male myself, I understood all too well how angry it must have made him to be called a name that, to my ears at least, sounded abundantly feminine. Especially considering how much pride he must have had in his name, what with it being the only remotely masculine thing about him. But I digress.

The two moved out of my way without another word, though the looks they were both attempting to bore through my head with promised an abundance of pain. Soichiro's in particular. Not that I cared. I maintained my smile, which was now actually genuine after the mood booster that was angering my twin annoyances, even as I slid open the door to the barrack and stepped into the stone corridor beyond.

"Hey onee-chan! You look happy. Did something happen?" I turned to look at Sayaka, who was standing there with her fingers locked behind her back, bouncing on the balls of her feet, with her own small smile adorning her face. My smile only grew wider. I couldn't help it. She was just so damn adorable.

"Nothing at all Sayaka. Nothing at all."

She looked at me for a moment, seemingly gauging whether or not I was being honest. In all fairness, she had every reason to do so. I rarely smiled unless I was forcing it, or something particularly amusing had happened. After the moment was up, however, she seemed satisfied. Or so I thought, until she closed her eyes, tilted her head slightly to her right, and gave a wide, toothy smile.

"Ok onee-chan. Whatever you say."

And with that, she turned on the spot, fingers still locked behind her back, and started skipping down the corridor. And then, for whatever reason, I started blabbing hastily, almost hysterically. If I had to venture a guess as to why, I'd say it was because my little sister, whose adorableness I've already told you I had no resistance to, had just called me on my, admittedly white, lie.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'whatever you say'? Sayaka? Hey, Sayaka, come on, why are you ignoring me? Sayaka! Talk to me! Please?! Sayaka?! SAYAKA!"

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And that's what it's like to have a younger sister who can screw with your emotions like her own little playthings through the sheer power of her innocence and cuteness.

Without even trying.

Or realizing that she's doing so.

But that's all I'm sharing today, so go ahead and get to work.

Oh, would you quit your whining already? I'm gonna tell you more tomorrow.

But only if you hop to it.

 _Oh dear Kami this will be the death of me. Again._

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 _"Parents wonder why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain." - John Locke_

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A/N: I've decided I'm not going to tell you guys about my writing schedule anymore. I just come out seeming like a liar or a broken record. You'll get the chapters when you get them. And again, sorry for the short chapter. Next one is the start of the Forest of Death Arc, so there's going to be a lot more happening, which means longer chapters. Catch you guys later.


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